1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to gunsights and, more particularly, to illuminated gunsights and gunsights for shooting during the day, at night, or under artificial lighting conditions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art to this invention includes hand-held flashlights, flashlights mountable on firearms, light-reflective material for sight posts, infrared scopes, and radioluminescent gunsights. Unfortunately for the law enforcement vocation, the prior art has failed to produce an effective and inexpensive gunsight for shooting in the dark.
A law enforcement officer routinely works in dark environments. For example, at night the cop works under sparse, artificial light sources such as headlights, street lamps, and neon signs, if such light exists at all. Even the cop who works the day shift may investigate in darkened basements and warehouses. In short, the cop's beat necessarily includes such environments because darkness is the criminal's accomplice.
Whether hand-held or mounted on a police revolver, the flashlight is a crude gunsight in law enforcement. A significant problem is that a flashlight blatantly advertises the location of the police officer and, moreover, provides a source of light for the criminal's own gunsight while the criminal himself remains enveloped in darkness. Furthermore, the flashlight is a bulky and massive instrument that is cumbersome to handle and awkwardly difficult to switch on and aim at the targeted criminal, especially when time is of the essence.
The prior art also includes sight posts illuminable by light reflective material. The light reflective gunsight may not advertise the location of the police officer as blatantly as the flashlight, needs no external power source, and adds no significant weight or bulk or change in structure to the traditional sight posts. Although gunsights having light reflective material overcome some of the problems posed by flashlights, light reflective gunsights fail when they are needed most. When no external light sources are available to illuminate the light reflective material, the light reflective gunsight is rendered as useless as a gunsight without light reflective sight posts.
The infrared light scope is prohibitively expensive and thus more suited for the military than the local police forces or the individual, who may not have the financial resources of the military. Moreover, infrared light scopes need adjacent, extensive, massive equipment which does not lend itself to the purposes of a patrol officer, who must travel light and be able to react instinctively.
My prior art illuminated sight shown in the Knutsen and Santiago U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,676 teaches a radioluminescent gunsight and method that solved many of the problems of the prior art. It included its own light source. It was adaptable to conventional sight posts. It did not advertise the location of the police officer. However, since it was mildly radioactive, the regulations requiring the handling of radioactive material made it unprofitable to market. Furthermore, even if federal regulations were lessened for low-level radioactive devices, it is conceivable that in a society that witnessed the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, consumers would not accept radioactive gunsights.
The prior art also includes a revolver having a pair of light-emitting diodes, one for a rear sight post and one for a front sight post. One such device is manufactured by the Triple K Manufacturing Co. In the Triple K device, the light-emitting diodes, connecting electrical wires, and the remaining components of the electrical system are placed in holes and grooves which are milled into the metal body of the firearm. The electrical wires are then covered with black epoxy. A nickel-cadmium battery, a rheostat, resistors, a recharge jack, and a momentary switch are installed in the butt of the gun. The backside of the rear light-emitting diode is also covered with black epoxy to reflect light onto the conventional rear sight which is coated with white reflective epoxy. Thus the rear light-emitting diode is not used as a sight but is used to illuminate the conventional rear sight on the gun.
The incorporation of the Triple K system poses a number of problems. For example, the metal body of the firearm may be weakened by milling grooves for the electrical system. While the grooves milled in the butt of the gun may be relatively harmless, it is extremely hazardous to mill a groove lengthwise across the firearm's barrel as the milled groove provides a weakened section which may behave like a score and cause the barrel to split if the gun should mal-function.
Even though the electrical wires are secured in the milled grooves by epoxy, it is dangerous to expose the cartridge chamber firing arm and other movable parts of the firearm to potential obstructions. In the rigorous law enforcement vocation, it is easily conceivable that the firearm could be rendered inoperative at the least opportune times by loose electrical wires.
A further problem is utilizing a momentary switch of either the capacitive or mechanical type as a means to activate the light-emitting diodes. If the momentary switch is a capacitive switch, it may fail to be activated if the shooter is wearing gloves. If the momentary switch is a mechanical switch, the shooter wastes crucial seconds to ensure that he or she is correctly gripping the butt of the firearm to activate the switch. An exposed momentary mechanical switch can also be inadvertently turned on by inserting the firearm in a holster or by simply laying the firearm on its side, thereby draining the battery.
In addition, the second light-emitting diode emanates superfluous light for the purpose of shooting in low-light conditions. One disadvantage of illuminated gunsights is that they blatantly advertise the location of a police officer if the gunsight emits too much light. With two light-emitting diodes that emit light in at least two locations makes the police officer holding a gun a potential target for a criminal.
Finally, the Triple K gunsights not only emit too much light, but also emit the light in the wrong direction. The backside of the rear light-emitting diode is covered by black epoxy to reflect the light forward and onto the conventional rear sight which is coated with white epoxy to make it more visible. This forward, flashlight-like reflection unfortunately emits light forwardly and may flash like a revolving beacon on a moonless night as the officer points his firearm in a darkened environment.